Dates for 'La Dolce Vita' Cruises and Punt trips

We've finally got some dates to publish, this is just for starters if anyone wants anything special just give me a call!
‘La Dolce Vita’ Opera Cruises – Dates

Free parking available at Bossoms Boat Yard, departure from Bossoms unless otherwise indicated

July Cruises and Punt Trips
Saturday 5th 3pm and 6pm Punts
Sunday 6th 3pm and 6pm Punts
Saturday 12th 3pm and 6pm Punts
Mon 14th 3pm Cruise from Folly Bridge
Saturday 19th 3pm and 6pm Punts
Sunday 20th 3pm and 6pm Punts
Saturday 26th 3pm and 6pm Punts
Sunday 27th 3pm and 6pm Punts
Thurs 31st 7pm Cruise

August Cruises and Punt Trips
Tues 5th Aug 7pm Cruise
Saturday 9th Aug 3pm and 6pm Punts
Sunday 10th Aug 3pm and 6pm Punts
Saturday 23rd Aug 3pm and 6pm Punts
Sunday 24th Aug 6pm Cruise
Friday 29th August 3pm and 6pm Punts

September Cruises and Punt Trips
Tues 9th Sept 6pm Cruise
Saturday 13th Sept 6pm Punts
Sunday 14th Sep 4pm Punts
Tues 16th Sept 6pm Cruise
Saturday 20th sep 6pm Punts
Sunday 21st Sep 4pm Punts
Tues 23rd Sep 6pm Cruise
Saturday 27th Sep 3pm Punts
Tuesday 30th Sep 6pm Cruise

To book your place on a punt or cruise call Mike on 01865 735910 or email mike@oxfordvocalists.co.uk

Buy a Sunday Express today!

Opera Anywhere's 'La Dolce Vita' opera cruise gets in the press again this weekend, in the Sunday Express no less! A very entertaining double page spread that has already created lots more enquiries! Jeffery Taylor does take the mickey a bit and just to clarify a couple of points before we get inundated with emails questioning our sanity: Firstly, we have not sold our house in Sunningwell to raise funds to buy storage space for Opera Anywhere, we have sold our house and invested in a plot of land down the road, right next to Vanessa's Mum & Dad. We are currently applying for planning permission to build a house which when agreed means we will be able to look after them and run the opera company with less overheads at present and where we have much more room for storage space. Now that's sorted the other fact which needs correcting, I am not 49, sadly! Thought I better own up to that one (although not much more!) and Vanessa is not 46 although she behaves like a 26 year old!! She is wearing me away with her incessant inclination for physical activity (and I don't mean sex!), not only did we have to spend hours in the gym yesterday but she had me cycling up the tow path along the river thames for miles and miles this afternoon! Its not that we won't be seeing much of the river of course!! I suppose she's trying to get me fit with all the punting we'll be doing with our opera trips throughout teh summer! We've got lots of dates to advertise and tomorrow I'll get round to posting them on the web site.
Lots of enquiries now from across the UK from Sunday Express readers.... bravo

In the press!

We're in the press this weekend with a great review of our opera cruise production in the Oxford Times by Nicola Lisle, here's a snippet and a link to read the full review.. La Dolce Vita Opera Cruise"...the official launch last week lived up to expectations. On a hot, sunny evening, a small group of us enjoyed a selection of arias from favourite operas..."Nicola Lisle, Oxford Times, 19th June 2008 (full review - external link) . Further press coverage expected in a Sunday paper soon.. watch this space!

Perfect opening night for our opera on punts..

We did our first performance on punts this evening, a lovely couple visiting Oxford wanted a romantic evening on the river. The weather was just right and all was set up for a great night on the punt, and that's certainly what we got! Vanessa and myself were both still out of action as far as our voices go, although Vanessa managed a couple of arias and a duet with Emma, her voice is clearly coming back gradually after the chest infection that we have both shared. Emma Noakes had come to our attention back in April when we auditioned singers in a drafty open air location near the Oxford Castle. She agreed to do this gig in less than 24 hours notice and she was just stunning in every way! With a fantastic repertoire, a magnificent voice and lovely personality she wowed our audience and everyone else on the river and the punt house, we clearly have uncovered a real winner here! She performed a fantastic programme of arias from all the Puccini favourites, Boheme, Tosca, Butterfly etc and some lovely lieder songs too, she finished off in great style with a fun aria about being an opera diva to shouts of "more, more"!! One of the many highlights was her rendition of the Micaela aria from Carmen, a role she is about to perform on stage with Swindon Opera. We had such a positive response from our audience in the punt and all the other punters and passers by about our opera on punts idea that we know we're onto a winner, the star of the show however, was definitely Emma!

First trip for the Opera on Punts tomorrow!

We have had our first bookings for La Dolce Vita Opera Cruise for punts tomorrow (Sunday). The punts leave the Cherwell Boathouse at 5pm and we still have a couple of seats available @ £35 if anyone would like to join us. Call me now to assure your place! 07887 653238. The weather tomorrow evening is forecast to be good with temperatures estimated at 17 degree Celsius. Bring a picnic and a bottle of wine and come and relax.....

We finally launched!

We finally were able to launch our La Dolce Vita opera cruise with a press voyage tonight in glorious sunshine, the floods and high river levels finally subsided so that we were able get onto the river in near perfect conditions. Giles of Oxford River Cruises was the perfect host and captain and the very nice arts reporters that came seemed very impressed and hopefully we'll get some really good coverage in the national and local press over the weekend. Amy, Ilana and Aidan (see picture left, not just a great voice but a very expressive face!) sang their hearts out to set the standard for whats to come.

Great Press but the flooding has delayed the launch

After the very heavy rains in Oxfordshire on Tuesday we had to pull the plug on the launch of our 'La Dolce Vita' Opera Cruise, which was due to sail for the first time tomorrow. The River was just too dangerously high to consider a voyage, a new date for the launch has been set for Monday 9th June at 6pm. Apologies to everyone that had booked for the trip tomorrrow but refunds and transfers to the new date is available via us directly.

We had some great exposure in the Oxford Times and Oxford Mail today, so that should help the idea take off!! Bring on the sun!

Oxford Mail & Times Swoop in for the story!....

Since our announcements regarding our 'La Dolce Vita' opera cruises on the Thames in Oxford, we've had much interest from the press, two of our lovely sopranos (Ilana Jacobs and Amy Webber) joined for the posed photography soon to be published in the Oxford Mail, the rather handsome Italian photographer (the girls were drooling somewhat) to pictures of us all whilst singing on the boat. Next week we are doing something similar for a national (a bit hush hush at the moment!). Tomorrow we have to be up at the crack of dawn for a Radio Oxford interview in Didcot, Amy has agreed to come too and sing live on the Radio in the Salisbury's store! Just as well as Vanessa and myself have had terrible sore throats this week and would sound terrible, in fact I'm sure the BBC would have serious complaints!
So it looks like our summer production on the river has the opportunity of taking off and keeping me gainfully employed, at least until the end of September! We now have some definite dates for the cruises, Friday 6th June at 3pm and 6pm and Monday 9th June at 6pm on the punts.. anyone interested in being one of the first audience to enjoy this experience should email me or call me on 01865 735910 or text / phone: 07887 653238